Newsgroups: alt.fan.dan-quayle,talk.politics.misc
Date: Friday, March 06, 1998 4:05 PM
Subject: LaborTalk: 19 States Target Unions
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ùVÒ–W3ÿÿ> Article 76030 of misc.activism.progressive:
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ùVÒ–W3ÿÿ> From: Harry Kelber 
ùVÒ–W3ÿÿ> To: newman@socrates.Berkeley.EDU 
ùVÒ–W3ÿÿ> Date: Wednesday, February 25, 1998 10:33 PM
ùVÒ–W3ÿÿ> Subject: LaborTalk: 19 States Target Unions
ùVÒ–W3ÿÿ> 
ùVÒ–W3ÿÿ> LaborTalk: 19 States Target Unions
ùVÒ–W3ÿÿ> By Harry Kelber
ùVÒ–W3ÿÿ> 
ùVÒ–W3ÿÿ> With a "war chest" now amounting to $150 million, the nation's 
major
ùVÒ–W3ÿÿ> corporations have teamed up with some of the most aggressive 
rightwing
ùVÒ–W3ÿÿ> groups  to prevent unions from using their dues money for any 
kind of
ùVÒ–W3ÿÿ> political activity. They have introduced bills  and Initiatives 
in 19
ùVÒ–W3ÿÿ> States which are remarkably similar, despite some differences in
ùVÒ–W3ÿÿ> language, and they plan to do the same in the other 31 States.
ùVÒ–W3ÿÿ> 
ùVÒ–W3ÿÿ> Like the Worker Paycheck Protection Act (H.R. 1625), a bill 
sponsored
ùVÒ–W3ÿÿ> by 111 anti-union Republicans in Congress, they all have a 
common aim:
ùVÒ–W3ÿÿ> to eliminate the AFL-CIO and its affiliated unions as an 
important
ùVÒ–W3ÿÿ> factor in national and local politics.
ùVÒ–W3ÿÿ> 
ùVÒ–W3ÿÿ> The Business Roundtable, the elite organization of top-ranking
ùVÒ–W3ÿÿ> corporate executives, has contributed at least $20 million to 
he
ùVÒ–W3ÿÿ> national effort to silence unions. The National Association of
ùVÒ–W3ÿÿ> Manufacturers is spending $18.75 million, a kitty raised through 
a
ùVÒ–W3ÿÿ> special assessment of its members. The president of the U.S. 
Chamber of
ùVÒ–W3ÿÿ> Commerce, Thomas Donahue, in a speech last November, declared:  
"You're
ùVÒ–W3ÿÿ> going to see us everywhere. . . . We will energetically oppose
ùVÒ–W3ÿÿ> union-led  programs to hijack the American political system."
ùVÒ–W3ÿÿ> Spearheading the political attack on unions is the Americans for 
Tax
ùVÒ–W3ÿÿ> Reform, which has produced a strategy guide for introducing 
tate
ùVÒ–W3ÿÿ> ballot initiatives and legislation. Rightwing foundations have
ùVÒ–W3ÿÿ> contributed more than $70 million, plus $20 million from 
Americans for
ùVÒ–W3ÿÿ> Job Security and at least $10.5 million from the notorious  
anti-union
ùVÒ–W3ÿÿ> Right to Work Committee.
ùVÒ–W3ÿÿ> 
ùVÒ–W3ÿÿ> A major test of the  nationally-coordinated campaign to throttle
ùVÒ–W3ÿÿ> labor's voice in politics will come on June 2, when Californians 
will
ùVÒ–W3ÿÿ> vote on an Initiative that would prohibit unions from using any 
portion
ùVÒ–W3ÿÿ> of a member's  dues for political purposes without written
ùVÒ–W3ÿÿ> authorization from the member.  The referendum is sponsored by a
ùVÒ–W3ÿÿ> so-called Campaign Reform Initiative and has the strong support 
of
ùVÒ–W3ÿÿ> Republican Governor Pete Wilson, who is its chairman.
ùVÒ–W3ÿÿ> 
ùVÒ–W3ÿÿ> Although both the Democratic and Republican parties have engaged 
in
ùVÒ–W3ÿÿ> scandalous and legally questionable fund-raising, American labor 
has
ùVÒ–W3ÿÿ> become the current target for "campaign financing reform." 
Despite the
ùVÒ–W3ÿÿ> fact that Big Business outspent organized labor by a margin of 
11 to 1
ùVÒ–W3ÿÿ> in the 1996 elections,  the corporate-rightwing coalition is
ùVÒ–W3ÿÿ> determined  to put a choke on fund-raising by unions and enmesh 
them in
ùVÒ–W3ÿÿ> a nightmarish tangle of bookkeeping, administrative and legal
ùVÒ–W3ÿÿ> problems.
ùVÒ–W3ÿÿ> 
ùVÒ–W3ÿÿ> With an enfeebled labor movement, the Big Business bloc in 
Congress
ùVÒ–W3ÿÿ> would have a free hand to tamper with the overtime provisions of 
the
ùVÒ–W3ÿÿ> wage-hour law, wipe out federal prevailing wage regulations, 
reduce
ùVÒ–W3ÿÿ> workers' compensation benefits, cut down on workplace safety
ùVÒ–W3ÿÿ> inspections, squeeze Medicare and Medicaid and turn over Social
ùVÒ–W3ÿÿ> Security to the Wall Street crowd.
ùVÒ–W3ÿÿ> 
ùVÒ–W3ÿÿ> If H.R. 1625 and the various state bills and initiatives are 
enacted,
ùVÒ–W3ÿÿ> it would set the stage for the biggest windfall ever for 
Corporate
ùVÒ–W3ÿÿ> America, amounting to billions of dollars annually--at the 
expense of
ùVÒ–W3ÿÿ> working families.  That's what the corporate-rightwing alliance 
is
ùVÒ–W3ÿÿ> really after behind their hypocritical concern and cynical bait 
about
ùVÒ–W3ÿÿ> the dues of union members.
ùVÒ–W3ÿÿ> 
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ùVÒ–W3ÿÿ> 
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ùVÒ–W3ÿÿ> 
ùVÒ–W3ÿÿ> 
ùVÒ–W3ÿÿ> --
ùVÒ–W3ÿÿ> Quote Of The Week:  "Let's keep our factories and jobs here [in 
the United
ùVÒ–W3ÿÿ> States] and move our corporate headquarters to Mexico, Korea or 
wherever
ùVÒ–W3ÿÿ> else we can get some reasonably priced chief executives."  Jim 
Hightower.
ùVÒ–W3ÿÿ> 
  
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